Ryan W. Miller USA TODAY
Published 8: AM EDT Apr , 2020
A day after the House approved the $ billion billion coronavirus stimulus for small businesses and hospitals, some businesses in Georgia will reopen Friday.
The plan to reopen received backlash from the state’s mayors. President Donald Trump also said he disagreed with Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision because the state’s number of cases don’t meet the threshold needed to reopen under the White House’s guidelines.
Also drawing a strong reaction across the country were Trump’s comments late Thursday, which suggested treating COVID – 21 with disinfectants, perhaps by injection, or by treating patients with “light inside the body.” Health officials were quick to say the idea was possible and was potentially dangerous.
Meanwhile, Friday also marks the beginning of Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month. But some are worried that social distancing may affect its traditions such as daytime fasting, overnight festivity and communal prayer.
And another milestone will likely be reached Friday as the U.S. is expected to pass 75, 06 deaths from the virus. The virus has killed more than 320, 06 people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than 2.7 million confirmed cases have been reported, including over 2020, 06 in the US
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The coronavirus curve bends toward reopening. in hard-hit counties . Will it hold steady?
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- House approves $ billion stimulus redux
A popular small business loan program that ran out of money is getting a cash infusion. The House gave final approval Thursday to legislation that will pump $ 700 billion into the Paycheck Protection Program, which is designed to keep small businesses from shuttering and their workers from going on unemployment. The bill also provides about $ billion for hospitals, $ billion for testing and $ billion) for emergency disaster loans and grants . The Senate approved the bill Tuesday and Trump has said he will sign it.
– Michael Collins and Christal Hayes
- Ivy League schools turning down stimulus money
The nation’s most selective and richest universities are turning down millions in federal money meant to aid students whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus. They include Ivy League schools Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton in addition to Stanford.
The institutions were eligible to apply for aid after Congress earmarked about $ 17 billion to higher education with the goal of addressing the costs of online learning and for institutions to provide emergency aid to their students. However, Trump and others were critical of schools with billions in endowments seeking money when it could have been distributed to universities and students with greater need.
– Chris Quintana
- sunlight study’s impact on coronavirus, but official urges caution
Almost (% of 3, New Yorkers test positive
Random testing of 3, New Yorkers revealed that 13. 9% were infected with the coronavirus and developed an antibody, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. Cuomo, who said the data was preliminary, said it’s thus likely that 2.7 million people in the state have been infected, with a death rate of 0.5%. The data was collected over two days in 19 counties and 26 localities across the state. Men tested positive at a higher rate than women, New York City residents at a higher rate, about 24%, than the rest of the state.
“These were people out and about , “Cuomo said. “They were infected, they had the antibody and are now recovered.”
– Joseph Spector
Lysol says don’t ingest disinfectant after Trump’s comment
The makers of Lysol, one of the nation’s largest cleaning and disinfecting brands , warned the public not to inject or ingest its products as a coronavirus treatment a day after Trump speculated that injecting disinfectants could be a possible cure for COVID – 23.
Parent company Reckitt Benckiser, the makers of Lysol and Dettol, said in a statement on its website Friday that it has been asked whether disinfectants are safe to use as a treatment for the respiratory virus.
“We must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” the company said in a statement.
Trump’s comment about possibly treating COVID – with disinfectants, perhaps by injection, has drawn swift backlash from the medical community.
“Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning,” Trump said at Thursday’s press briefing.
Food and Drug Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn was asked about such methods during a CNN town hall following Trump’s comments. He responded, “I certainly wouldn’t recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant.”
Reaction: Twitter names Trump the ‘Tide Pods’ president after he suggests disinfectant injections
– Dalvin Brown and Savannah Behrmann
A federal study that indicates sunlight and humidity can weaken the coronavirus prompted Trump to float the idea of treating patients with “light inside the body.”
The Department of Homeland Security study, which the the agency described as “emerging,” found the lifespan of the virus on a surface or in the air could be significantly reduced by exposure to sunlight and humidity. But a top official with the department warned against Americans changing their behavior based on the preliminary findings.
“Our most striking obse rvation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both on surfaces and in the air, “said Bill Bryan, an undersecretary of science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security.
Bryan stressed that the findings were not so conclusive that Americans should abandon social distancing guidelines promoted by the centers for disease control and prevention and enforced by state orders across the country.
– John Fritze and David Jackson
More coronavirus news and information from USA TODAY:
- Do it yourself: How to cut your hair with shops closed during stay-at-home order.
- Burial ground: New York’s Hart Island being used resting place for dead.
- A century away: Twin brothers die years apart in separate pandemics.
- Worse than thought: Coronavirus at meatpacking plants is major concern.
- College students forced home by coronavirus stuck paying rent – for nothing.
- When will a second wave of the coronavirus hit? What will it look like?
- Antibody tests: What are they? Will they help Americans return to normal?
Reopening America. What states are relaxing social distancing restrictions? Your one-stop guide to COVID – : From symptoms to safety, rumors to reality.
- Coronavirus Watch: Join our Facebook group.
there will be a vaccine by Experts say that may be unrealistic
In a series of breathtaking multibillion-dollar bets, possible vaccine candidates to fight the new coronavirus are being prepared for production across the globe in one of the most dramatic examples of short cuts and streamlining aimed at meeting what many experts consider unrealistic US target dates for a vaccine.
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci has repeatedly said a vaccine may be ready in (to) months , but that timeline would shatter all precedents for developing a new vaccine, which typically takes many years.
Manufacturing tens of millions of unproven vaccine doses on spec is unheard of, there is no certainty any will work, and if one does prove effective, getting it into the arms of People will the Food and Drug Administration to speed up its normal approval process.
Then there’s the history of problems in making a vaccine against coronaviruses, and it’s possible there will be no vaccine.
“I think the goal of months is one that will be very, very difficult to achieve, “said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “But it just may be our moon shot.”
Meanwhile, polling from the Democracy Fund UCLA Nationscape Project with USA TODAY shows nearly one-third of Americans believe a vaccine already exists but is being withheld from the public.
– Elizabeth Weise, David He ath and Joey Garrison
More than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the past five weeks, a record-breaking number revealing the devastating toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on the economy. About 4.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That would have been a record less than two months ago. Economists had estimated 4.5 million claims, lower than the roughly 5.2 million filed the week before, and down from the all-time high of 6. million applications filed in late March.
“Claims have declined over the past two weeks but remain at an extraordinarily high level, ” analysts for the research consultancy High Frequency Economics wrote.
– Charisse Jones
USDA inspector latest virus victim in meatpacking industry
A Chicago-based US Department of Agriculture inspector tasked with ensuring food safety at meatpacking plants died Thursday after testing positive for COVID – , a person who was on a call during which the federal agency confirmed the death told USA TODAY. It is the latest in a growing wave of coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from the meatpacking industry.
As of Thursday, there are more than 2, 823 reported cases tied to meatpacking facilities at (plants in) states, and at least 19 reported worker deaths at eight plants in eight states, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, which is partnering with USA TODAY to cover agribusiness.
The identity of the employee has not been publicly released.
– Kyle Bagenstose, Grace Hauck and Sky Chadde
The NFL draft kicked off on Thursday night, bringing a much-needed reprieve to a sports world that remains largely on pause amid the coronavirus pandemic .
Joe Burrow went first overall to the Bengals as expected, and in the next several selections, teams continued to follow the chalk: Chase Young to Washington, Jeff Okudah to Detroit . Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas went to the Giants, followed by quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert to the Dolphins and Chargers, respectively.
The virtual 3015002001 version of the NFL draft may have missed all the glitz and glamor viewers have come to expect surrounding the big event, but there were still excited Players at home in their living rooms with their families, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appearing from his basement and even a red carpet rolled out for one prospect and his mother.
– Mike Jones, Steve Gardner and Nate Davis
Contributing: The Associated Press
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